Keyblade's Will
by Daruku Janubu
Summary: Sora is dead. No one could believe it even when they saw his lifeless body. There was no reason for him to be. Just before his new mission could start, before the sunrise, "It's as if he had gone to sleep and he just didn't wake up."
1. It's all right

Here another new fanfic of Kingdom Hearts.

Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts

* * *

**Keyblade's will**

**Chapter I**

**It's all right**

* * *

Sora's gone.

It was a weird thing to be said. It sounded like a bad joke. And in fact, when she mumbled it as tears fell down her face, nobody believed it. Even when they saw him, cold, un-breathing, and his heart forever silent as it was laid to sleep. It just didn't make any sense. He was laughing with them just a few hours ago. He was having fun with everyone. He was completely fine, he was… he was…

Alive.

* * *

A few hours ago

* * *

Sora, Riku and Kairi sat on the beach of the main Island in destiny Islands. The king had told them to go meet him in their little island at twilight. He made emphasis in 'not till the twilight came'. Kairi and Sora knew that Riku already knew what was going on, but even thought they tried to make him confess he shrugged them off every time and told them to wait to find out themselves.

It had been a while since they had come back to their home and things were going back to what they used to be. A few things had to be repaired… it took a few days for everyone to remember Sora completely, and the king had to explain the situation to his desperate mother, but everything turned out ok. Now they were enjoying the simple things in life.

"OH, come on!" whined Sora yet again as he shook Riku with both hands. "Tell me, teeeeell meeeeee!"

Riku got tired of this and pushed him away and in a swift movement, he made the brunette's head dive into the sand.

"Mnmnmnnn!!" Sora fought as Riku kept him half buried, grinning all the while.

Kairi could only laugh at their antics. Sora was as childish as ever and Riku seemed to find his inner child every time they were together. But she was there to be the one to make them realize when it was time to stop. And that time seemed to arrive when Sora's arms started to fly around franticly.

"Now Riku, let him go before he dies of asphyxia."

"Yes mommy," laughed the elder as he let go of the poor teenage boy. Sora coughed sand out of his mouth.

"AHHHH! The agony!" he screamed as he rolled around on the ground. "Oh! My eyes sting! Ah! The pain!" Riku watched with amusement as Sora continued his little act of the dying sand man. "The AGONY! IT tastes… mmm…waaaa! SALTY!" Kairi laughed at the many expressions Sora was making as he tried to take the sand from his tongue.

"Here sandy boy," Sora caught the bottle of water that she threw at him out of reflex and soon gurgled out all the sand.

"Geez! That was pretty nasty! Riku that wasn't necessary."

"It wouldn't have been if you had sat down and waited as I told you to," answered the older one.

"That isn't fair!" growled the keyblade master. "You know I'm not good at waiting!"

"My dear Sora, you are not good at many things," mocked Riku as he stood up.

As Sora seethe at him, Kairi only watched them and smiled.

"I guess it's unavoidable. Why don't you look at Kairi and follow her good example?"

"Me?"

"Yes. Kairi, the best in class," Riku patted her on the head. "Now, who's a good girl?"

Kairi's smile widened, knowing very well that Riku was just trying to irritate Sora, thing he was succeeding in. With the years she learned when it was convenient for her to stay out of their little quarrels. Not because she couldn't participate in them, but rather because she enjoyed to see the spectacle. And she always got to be on the front row!

Sora growled and jumped towards Riku taking him down and rolling around as they started struggling against each other.

"Is that all you got? Oh, mighty key-blade wielder?" laughed Riku as he pushed Sora away.

"Not quite!" The boy grasped a wooden stick from the sandy floor and took his fighting stance "This is way better!"

"Now you're talking!" the other grasped another stick and took his personal fighting stance.

"Alright boys, you can play around but remember the rules, no key blades while we are in mainland," she said as she backed a little to give them room.

"Yes mom!" both smiled before launching into battle. But such a joyful battle it was. No screams of pain, only laugher. They were having the time of their lives. The boys even enticed Kairi to join them after a while and Riku was trying to teach her how to win against Sora, which had the younger fuming at being underestimated.

"Now when I tell you, you just crouch and hit, got it?" whispered the white haired teen.

"Are you sure that's all I need? I mean, it can't be that easy, right?"

"Believe me Kairi, it's easier than you think," Riku turned to Sora who was currently giving them his back in sign of anger. "Now hero boy, it's your turn to show our princess how strong you truly are!"

"Stop making fun of me Riku!" cried the keyblade warrior.

"Ok, as soon as you don't give me any more reasons I won't make fun of you."

Riku felt a soft punch on his arm and turned to look at Kairi. "Yes?"

"Come on. I believe you've torture him enough. Let's get this going!"

Riku laughed as he backed a little away. "Now Sora, remember, if Kairi knocks you out, you will owe us a banana split each."

Sora grumbled to himself as he took his stance. He wasn't going to attack with all his strength, after all, Kairi –even thought was learning faster than many- wasn't as experienced as he was.

"Now, don't underestimate me Sora," the boy smiled as he saw her take a simple defensive stance. This was a piece of cake.

They stood still for a second and then he started running towards her. His only goal was to take out her improvised sword.

Kairi looked at him as he got closer at great speed, and then looked at Riku at the side as he signed her to wait. "Wait… wait… wait..." he said softly for her to hear. "Wait… wait…wait… NOW!" he screamed.

Following his advice she got down avoiding Sora's swing and then attacked hitting him on the side. It wasn't really such a mighty attack, but it was fast enough to take the unsuspecting boy by surprise. Sora went rolling to the floor and landing face down a few meters away, his 'sword' knocked out of his hand ending the duel.

"Ladies and Gentleman, we have a new hero of the keyblade, Princes of heart, KAIRI!" announced Riku as he raised her fist in the air in sign of triumph.

Both laughed as Sora was still face down on the sand.

"Come on Sora, don't be a sore loser," Riku got closer to the boy and slightly pushed him with his foot. But Sora didn't answer. "Sora?"

"Sora? Are you OK?" asked Kairi worried that he might be hurt.

"Come on Sora, it isn't funny," Riku turned him around. The boy had his eyes closed and didn't seem to be breathing. "Sora? Come on! Wake up!" Riku shook him slightly scared now.

"Sora, please! Wake up!" cried Kairi.

"Come on buddy!" but the boy didn't react. "You've got to be kidding me…"

Both friends were about to panic when a spray of wet sand hit Riku in the face.

"Hahahaha you fell for it!" laughed the boy as he held his stomach. Riku cleaned his face from the disgusting mix of sand and spit. "You should have seen your faces!"

"Sooooooraaaaa," the boy turned to look at two murderous dark presences getting close to him. "Thaat wasn't funny!"

"Uh…mm… sorry?" but it was too late, he was put under the punishment of a sand burial!

* * *

Two hours and a shower after that…

* * *

"Geez, you didn't have to get that angry!" pouted the teenage boy as they walked towards the docks. They had taken the time to get changed into their adventure clothes, for they were the nicest to wear with that warm weather, besides, they kind of felt more comfortable to see the king while dressed in something that could be considered at least mildly nice.

"We had all the right, you really scared us!"

"I wasn't scared," corrected Riku.

"Yeah, of course," Kairi looked at him with knowing eyes, accusing him of lying.

"Ok, maybe a little," confessed the boy. "But I was more disgusted than anything, and if you dare to do that again I'll make sure to turn you into a real corpse!" threatened the silver haired teen, somehow creating a dark aura around him. Sora sweat dropped.

"Dare what? The fake-being-dead part or the spit part?"

"BOTH!" screamed both his friends.

Sora laughed nervously.

"Come on, guys. It was only a joke, nothing more."

"A very bad joke," said Kairi looking really hurt.

Sora felt guilty for making them upset. "Ok, I promise, no more jokes like that, ok?"

She smiled at him and nodded but Riku simply walked past him.

"She may forgive you with a promise, but it will take much more for me to forgive you. I want my two double banana splits by midday tomorrow and no one will take that away from me!"

"AHHH?!" shrieked the brunette. "But I don't have that kind of munny!"

"I don't care," exclaimed the silver haired boy. "This will teach you not to do things you are not willing to pay for!" Riku started to hurry his pace as he dedicated a deviant smirk at his younger friend.

"Not fair!" The boy ran after him whining. Kairi laughed this; Sora was always able to make her laugh, no matter what. He was also one of the only people that could make Riku act like that. He was, with no discussion, a bright light that made everyone's day better. She followed them as they raced towards the docks; it was time to head for the Island.

But as they ran, as they were only trying to enjoy such a piece of happiness in their lives, a prelude of what was to come crashed on the cheerful key bearer.

Suddenly, from three figures running down the street, only two moved as one fell or rather, collapsed to the stone floor on the road. Riku turned as soon as he heard the sound of the falling body. Kairi ran to him as fast as she could. Both reached him at the same time, but Sora didn't moved in acknowledge of their presence.

"Sora! Don't play, we have to hurry," said Riku with a frown, in his voice it was obvious he was getting a little nervous.

"Sora, it isn't funny," said Kairi as she shook his shoulder but he didn't budge.

The elder took hold of him and turned him around. Kairi gasped at Sora's face. He was white as a ghost!

"Kairi, I don't think he is joking," the silver haired teen said as he took his friend in his arms.

"There Riku, there's a bench over there," the boy nodded and went to lay the unconscious brunette on it.

"Now what?" asked Riku getting very concerned. Sora was unconscious and his body seemed to be trembling a little. "What could be wrong?"

"I don't know. He was running after you and then he suddenly collapsed. Maybe he hyperventilate or something," she said but doubted her words.

"I don't think so. Sora can run all the way up disney castle's main stairs without breaking a sweat. I don't think he could actually faint from this." The elder boy took of his vest and laid it on top of his shivering friend. "What ever the reason, I better go call for help, I'm not sure if we should be moving him around," Kairi nodded saying that she was going to keep the boy company, Riku agreed. But before he could leave, he felt a hand grasping his arm weakly. He turned to see Sora looking at him. "Sora!" both friends exclaimed.

"Don't… go Riku… I'm alright," said the boy as he rose slowly into a sitting position.

"You are not ok Sora, you are all pale," Kairi took one of his hands "And you are cold as well".

Sora frowned a little, but soon gave her a reassuring smile.

"Truth is I didn't get much sleep yesterday… I was kinda excited from the whole thing about this surprise and that… I think I just overdid it a little… also I may have exaggerated with the shower's temperature… you know what a shock it is to put warm and cold too fast". Riku eyed him with suspicion, Sora wasn't the best in hiding stuff, he was too sincere, but he seemed to be honest about this.

"Well, maybe we should let you rest at home. We will tell the king about it he will understand-"

"NO!" screamed the boy, surprising both his friends. "I mean…ah…" he took Riku's hand and put on his best puppy dog eyes. "I didn't get to sleep yesterday because I was so excited about today, do you really think I will be able to rest if I don't go?!" Riku recoiled at the sight of those big round puppy eyes. It was as if they had put a blinding light in front of his face. A VERY SHINY AND WICKEDLY SWEET LIGHT. The silver haired boy had to turn his gaze away because he was going to throw up if he kept looking at those eyes. "Kairi, little help here," he begged.

Kairi tugged at Sora's sleeve making him direct all the power of his eyes at her. She kneeled by his side so that her face was close to his. "Sora, I don't want you to get sick," and that made it. Sora's sweet face fell as he frowned.

"I'm not going to get sick, Kairi," he said as he brought her head gently to rest against his chest (which, by the way, surprised Riku and Kairi very much). "Do you hear it? My heart says I'm alright," Kairi relaxed at the sound, it was one very strong heartbeat. "I believe it knows that very well. You don't have to worry, I'll be just fine," he felt her nod her head. Riku looked at the scene startled by how serious Sora was acting and when his friend looked at him with a gentle smile, he could only nod at his petition. After all, Sora always got what he wanted, or at least, that seemed to be the case lately.

"Ok. But you'll be going on my boat and I will row. At the first sign of you getting sick we come back, got it?" the boy nodded brightly.

And so the three friends made their way to the dock and to their new boats. Some thing was awaiting them on that island and hopefully everything would turn out ok.

* * *

Hope you've like it so far.


	2. The best birthday ever

Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts.

Warning: From now on, there might be a few spoilers on Birth by sleep and Coded.

Note: Sorry for the bad grammar or vocabulary usage.

Well, enjoy!

* * *

**Keyblade's will**

**Chapter II**

**The best birthday ever**

* * *

It was meant to be done in the same place where once in a time, two became one. A heart that gave strength to another. A life that was about to end, came back to life by the hand of a stranger. A strength to connect two out of free will, now needs to save again that which requires of salvation.

Even thought, tears would be shed, bigger should be the price if it where to stay as it was.

Those that are doomed, still cry in solitude. And their cries hurt far more than those to come.

Because even in the strongest heart slept darkness. Because even the bravest warrior eventually will have to fall.

* * *

By the time they reached the beach of the Island, Sora was completely recovered and as eager as ever which, in turn, made Riku feel a little stupid for giving him a free ride. The boy was so ecstatic that he jumped to the small dock before Riku had pulled close enough to formally disembark.

"Sora! Watch it!" yelled the silver haired teen. His friend's silly jump made his boat almost crash against the dock's support.

"Oops… sorry," said the boy with an apologetic smile.

He was very anxious, jumping from foot to foot while waiting for the others to get off their boats.

"Come on guys! Hurry!" he whined.

"Hey! We need to make sure the knot well done, ok? We don't want to lose any boats today… especially, not the new ones!" the older teen was really starting to lose his patience. The fact that his friend seemed to be having an attack of anxiety was not enough to allow him to be demanding stuff.

"Oh, let him be Riku, this might be a side effect of his bad night," said Kairi with a smile. But something weird happened. Sora stopped jumping and for a moment he looked a little down at her words. But, fast enough to fool many –but of course, not to fast enough fool his two best friends- he covered it up and started running to the beach.

"Ok! I'll go ahead!" he called with a big smile.

Riku and Kairi looked at his disappearing form with silent confusion.

"Riku… you noticed that, didn't you?" she said almost in a whisper.

"Yeah. He's hiding something," he gave a final twist to the rope he was tying his boat with and stood up. "And apparently, it has to do with the excuse he gave us to let him come."

"You think he's lying?" she asked him with concern.

"Now, that's difficult to say… My head tells me that he had all the signals of a person that's telling the truth… yet, I have a feeling in my gut that tells me he's lying through his teeth," he said, but soon he noticed her worried expression and he knew he shouldn't have said it like that. "But you know? We could always force him to spit it out after this is over, right? After all, he wanted to come… whatever he might be hiding, he did it to come here, so let's allow him to have what he wants for now," he said with a reassuring voice. "He's probably got a cold or something like that and he just didn't want to ruin the king's surprise."

At the mention of the king, Kairi remembered the note that they had received from him a few days ago. A note where he asked Sora to go help those that where waiting for him. Sora had given his answer two days ago. Her dear friend -always rushing to help whoever needed from his saving- had said 'Yes' to the petition. But she couldn't help but being a little sad about it. He was leaving. He was going to go rescue this people that, supposedly, where expecting him… she wondered who they where, and also she wondered, why where they waiting for Sora? Why him? They had only been back for a few months, not even a year, and now he was going to leave.

Kairi sighed.

"Does this surprise have anything to do with the fact that he's leaving?" she asked, not making an effort to hide her disappointment, she knew that Riku felt the same about having to allow their friend to risk himself again.

"You could say that, but also about something else," the smile that he had as he said this was proof that he enjoyed that something else. "I bet the idiot had yet to notice. But I'm sure you do know. So Kairi, do you know why tomorrow is an especial day?"

Why tomorrow was an especial day? Of course she knew why it was an especial day! It was because it was Sora's…

She gasped and smiled at him brightly.

"A surprise birthday party?!" she said excitedly.

He nodded. "Tomorrow is Sora's sixteenth birthday. But because of this whole thing about a new mission and all, he is been so distracted that he must have forgotten it. I talked with the king and he said that we should make a party. On one hand it is a 'thanks for the help' party and on the other is an advanced birthday party. His mother agreed only if we allowed her to have him for herself tomorrow, so it had to be in advance. Sora still doesn't know it but there's people waiting to surprise him on the other side of the Island."

"Wow! Why didn't anyone tell me about it? I could have helped!" she protested.

"Because, my dear princess, you would have told him all about it when he started to cry and whine like a baby. After all, you're no good to keep secrets from him," he answered with a smug expression, making his way to the door that connected both sides of the Island. "Now, we better hurry before he ruins the surprise. I've got to reach before him to warn the others that we've arrived."

Kairi laughed with much glee, she could already picture Sora's face. Riku was right; she wouldn't be able to keep a secret from Sora, not when it was something meant to make him so happy.

Both friends run to catch up with Sora before he got tired of waiting for them.

"Hey guys! Good! I was getting tired of waiting for you!" apparently they got just in time. "Come on! Let's go!"

The two friends smiled at each other as the brunette opened the door to the passage. They followed him silently as he mused to himself, out loud, obviously.

"Wonder what the king wanted," he said with curiosity. "He seemed to be enthusiastic about something… what could it be?"

Riku had to bit his lip to stop himself from laughing. Sora was a total sap, no matter how old he got or how tall he grows; Sora was and would always be a total sap. But that was also a part of his friend that he really liked. Sora could really get surprised by this kind of stuff. Riku? Well, he would have probably connected all the points and draw a fairly clear picture in his head, thus ruining the emotion of it. But Sora? No, he was completely oblivious, thus making this so very amusing. With a smirk Riku took on running ahead of his wondering friend. Sora didn't know very well what was happening for it was very dark and his eyes weren't as used as Riku's to the darkness.

"Hey! What's the hurry!" grumbled the younger boy for he felt as if he were to be loosing in a competition he hadn't agreed on.

"Just keep walking Sora, Riku just went ahead to bother you," she encourage him knowing that Riku had to reach the other side first.

* * *

When they finally reached the end of the passage and saw the little light seeping into the dark corridor from the door's threshold, Sora heard his friend chuckling at him. The boy pouted.

"No fair! Why did you run?"

"Well, I was under the impression that you wanted us to hurry, didn't you?"

"Yeah but-"

"No buts, besides we're here, right?"

Sora's frown turned into a curious gaze as he reached for the door's handle. But before he could reach it, Riku stopped his hand.

"I'll do it," he said as he gave a knock on the door before opening it fast and with a smooth movement, he pushed the distracted teen towards the light.

For a moment, the light blinded his eyes, but he opened them a little when he heard…

"SURPRISE!"

"Ah?"

He tried to distinguish the voices that he heard, voices he had known for long; the voices of the people he held dear in his heart. He heard some claps and wished to open his eyes completely, but before he could recover all his visual capacities he felt himself being crashed by to big weights.

"SORA!" yelled the two creatures as they hugged him on the ground.

"Donald? Goofy?" he said with surprise as his eyes closed tightly for he was now facing the light of the orangey sky, making them sting a little.

"SORA! We've missed you!" exclaimed the duck.

"Ahyuk! Yeah we've missed you!" agreed the big captain of the royal army as he snuggled his face against Sora's in a caring way (like he did in the end of their last journey)

"Ahaha, guys, I'm so glad to see you!" exclaimed the boy returning the hugs with as much, or even more, enthusiasm as his friends.

"Ok, you two, off of Sora. Now that he can finally see he should greet everyone properly."

"Everyone…?" Sora sat up almost immediately only to stare dumbfounded at the many people waving at him. He saw the king, queen Minnie, Daisy, Leon, Yuffie, Cloud, Aerith and Tifa looking at him with smiles that ranged from happiness to amusement at the development of the scene.

Riku and Kairi could feel a warm feeling spreading within their hearts as the silly expression in Sora's face morphed into one of complete an utter joy. The boy was overflowing with happiness, so much that he was infecting everyone.

"GUYS! What are you doing here?!" he asked, almost hyperventilating from the excitement. He wanted to have a group hug so bad! Yet he doubted that Cloud, Leon or Tifa would be up to it. Fortunately for him, Yuffie and the others wanted to do the same so, soon, those of the group that weren't too serious to join where already engaged in a group hug.

The king laughed as he was squashed by Goofy as they hugged Sora, who was unable to stop laughing.

"Well, Sora. I brought them here. We thought that, since we were going to have a new adventure together, we could throw a party for everyone to enjoy themselves," explained the king as they finally retreated from the hug.

"And also, this is a party in advance for tomorrow's especial day," added queen Minnie.

Sora looked lost for a minute. "Tomorrow…?"

Riku took him in head lock and smirking at his confused expression he said. "Come on Sora, you couldn't have possibly forgotten the day you were born could you?"

"Uh?"

"Sora, Tomorrow is you're birthday," explained Kairi. "so…"

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY IN ADVANCED SORA!" exclaimed everyone with big smiles, even Cloud and Leon (thought theirs were not 'big').

They waited for a second to receive some kind of reaction.

Sora simply stared at them, with surprise written in his face. Riku let him go and looked at him a little worried for his friend's sudden silence.

"Sora?" he asked. "You alri-"

But he went mute when he saw soft tears fall down his friend's cheeks.

"Sora?" asked Kairi concerned about this reaction. But soon let it go as the brunette's mouth curved into a little childish pout.

"A b-birthday party? (sob) for me?" and the teary eyes that looked at everyone could only be describe as cute. "Geez… t-this…. This is….(sob)" he rubbed his eyes cleaning them before facing them again with a smile. "Thanks guys!" and he just didn't care if anyone didn't want to, he simply threw himself at them and -in some mysterious and till this day unexplained way- he managed to give a hug to each one of them.

Riku and Kairi could only laugh as they heard a few comments from Cloud and Leon about how strong Sora was getting to actually be able to knock the breath out of them like that. Only a person so easy going and carefree as their friend would find such a delight in making the two older warriors uncomfortable.

The friends started to guide Sora to the beach of that side of the island (a.n.: you know, where they had build the raft in the first game) where they had prepared everything, leaving only Riku and the king to watch as they left.

"You were a little late," said the king towards his dear friend in a soft voice. They preferred to talk softly for they enjoyed the peace that spread between the two when silence was present.

"I know… a few things happened," explained the teen as he rubbed the back of his head.

"Something I should know?" Mickey turned to look at the boy with some concern for he noticed the slightly worried expression in his face.

"Nothing that important… we may be exaggerating… but Kairi and I think that maybe Sora is sick," he answered.

"Oh…" Mickey turned his glance towards the place where the boy had disappeared just a few seconds ago. "Is there a reason for you to believe that?"

Riku sighed. "When we where coming to meet you guys, he… he fainted…he simply collapsed. We thought he was playing a joke on us but… he was all pale like a ghost and so cold. He was shivering and no matter how much Kairi called him, he just didn't wake up." Mickey touched the boy's hand comforting him; he knew Riku was very upset.

"It's ok Riku," said the king. "Sora seems fine now."

Riku looked at him with a grateful smile. Mickey always knew how to cheer him up. All that time trapped in darkness with the wise king was enough to form an unbreakable bond between the two.

"He woke up just when I was going to get help. He said he wanted to come, and said that he had a bad night and blamed the shower temperature for his black out… a part of me believes him, but another tells me he's lying." He took a serious look in his eye. "Would you do me a favor, Mickey?"

"Riku, you know there's no need ask. I'll do anything to make this party enjoyable!" the boy smiled at his friend.

"I should have guessed that you'll say that," the silver haired teen kneeled to be at his friend's height. "Would you please keep and eye on him? I asked him to tell us if he felt sick or something, but knowing him, especially in a situation like this, I'm quite sure he wouldn't tell us. So if you could…"

"Don't say anymore. I won't let him escape my gaze. At the first sign of sickness I myself will make sure he is taken to the bed of the gummi ship and then back home!"

Riku smiled at him feeling more relieved now that he had another set of eyes watching the energetic teenager.

"Well, I'll trust you in that because, knowing him, he will put up a fight, especially when he notice the-"

"CAAAAAAAAAKEEEEEEEEE!!!!!" sounded a scream around the whole Island making the birds fly away from their homes in fear.

"Well, seems he found the sweets that Minnie brought," Mickey said smiling with amusement.

"CHOOOOOCOOOOOLAAAAATEEEEE CAAAAAAKEEEEE!"

"Oh, no," grumbled the silver haired teen. "If he was already excited… just imagine him on a sugar rush!"

The mouse laughed at the boy's frustrated expression. It would be a very entertaining evening.

* * *

They had decorated the area with lamps and chains of colorful paper. A big cloth hanging from two palm trees read "Happy B-day Sora" in messy handwriting (Yuffie's of course). There was a table under it, where a huge chocolate cake was laid in the middle of many different sweets and sandwiches. There was also a bowl of fruit juice, and for the elder ones, Leon had brought a bottle of wine from Radiant garden.

The happy mood spread around; at least, it did after everyone put a stop on Yuffie's and Sora's sweet rampage. Neither Riku nor Leon were up to having two sugar high teenagers. After giving each a limit, everything went back to normal.

The friends were talking, laughing, eating and sharing amongst themselves. As time passed by, the night started to fall silently and many mentioned the beauty of the world were the three friends lived in. The mixture of orange and purple in the sky was far more beautiful than in any other world that they new about. Only Twilight town's Twilight could rival the scene.

Cloud was leaning against a palm tree, looking at those gentle lights up above when he heard footsteps getting closer to him.

"At midnight is even more breath-taking. Sometimes you can even see a shooting star," said the young key bearer.

"I thought so," commented the blonde. He took a sip of his glass. He had to give it to Leon, he knew how to choose a good wine. He normally didn't like to drink alcohol or thinks like that, but this was too good to let it pass.

"So…" said the boy innocently.

"So?" answered the man as he took another sip.

"What's with you and Tifa and Aerith?"

The blond warrior almost choked at this. He had to take a huge breath to calm himself. He looked towards the two women and after making sure they weren't listening he relaxed.

"Is that reaction meant to mean it's not something good?" asked the boy, quite amused by his friend's reaction.

Cloud only glared at him, but after a few seconds he noticed that Sora hadn't said it with bad intentions, he was just been his innocent and meddling self.

"It's complicated," he offered.

"How so?"

The blond frowned. "Well… it's not like there's really something…"

"You sure?" asked the boy as he took a sip from his own glass (his was juice of course). "If I remember correctly, you seemed to be very 'gentle' with Aerith and Tifa seemed to be very happy when she found you," Sora noticed that Cloud's face was turning red. "Are you drunk?" he asked looking at the blonde's flushed cheeks.

"NO!" he screamed in anger making the boy flinch backwards.

"Okay, geez, relax!" the boy held both hands up in defense. There was a dangerous fire in Cloud's eyes.

After a few seconds Cloud decided to let it go, and went back to stargazing.

"But you know… at first I thought you and Aerith had something… for you seemed very lost till you saw her… but then, when Tifa came in, well, you seemed to be seeing the light after a good while… as if she was your light," he mumbled the last part and his face looked gently at peace. Cloud looked at him from the corner of his eye, curious as to why he suddenly seemed so mature about this kind of stuff. Then he turned to look at Tifa and noticed the young red haired girl that was speaking with her. The same girl that seemed to always smile at this boy and that seemed to make this boy smile with her presence. Cloud sighed in understanding.

"And I suppose you know about that, right?"

The boy turned to look at him with surprise. "What?"

"So…" said the warrior with a smug expression that made the boy feel a little edgy.

"So?"

"You and the princess of heart, ah?" he said giving Sora a soft nudge with his elbow. The teen became instantly red as he mumbled 'no comment'. Cloud had caught him, so better escape into silence.

Both stood there looking at the darkening sky. It was almost completely black. Cloud felt the boy at his side sigh deeply. For some reason, he felt it awkward for Sora to make such a noise.

"Only when it gets darker, the light shines brighter, doesn't it?" the question made Cloud turn to look at the brunette boy for a few moments. Sora was looking mesmerized at the stars that were twinkling with more strength now for it was almost completely black.

The blonde looked up and only answered with a "Un."

"I'm glad you're here Cloud," said the boy earning a suspicious look from his friend. The brunette chuckled at it. "I mean, after the whole Sephiroth thing I thought I may not get to see you again, but here you are," the boy looked at him in the eye. "You helped me so many times. You helped me keep my light close," at the mention of 'his light' Sora turned to look at his friends and caught them looking at him. He waved at them making them turn away as if faking they hadn't been looking at him in the first place. "You are also part of my light now," he gave the older warrior a fond smile. "I hope we can continue to be friends from now on," he extended a hand offering it to his startled companion.

Sora was never someone to talk so seriously, it had taken Cloud by surprise. But he felt the same about him. Sora had helped him recover his light and till some point, maybe, because now they were friends, Sora was also part of his light. With a small smile, he took his hand and shook it firmly.

"I look forward to that as well," he said with complete sincerity.

The two warriors shook hands till someone's yell interrupted their little friendly moment.

"IT'S LIMBO TIME!" screamed an enthusiastic ninja girl as she pulled a wooden stick out of nowhere.

"Where did you hide that?" asked a dumbfounded Riku.

"Ninja skills my friend, ninja skills," she turned to the other people that were still away and call. "COME ON PEOPLE, DON'T MAKE ME BRING YOU HERE MYSELF. IT'S LIMBO TIME!"

"Gosh! Limbo! I love Limbo!" everyone turned to see an excited Mickey.

"I haven't played Limbo since our last anniversary Mickey," said the queen with a bright smile.

"Oh, you'll do just fine my dear, we're gonna teach this fellas how it's done!"

"Not if he teach you first!" exclaimed the ninja.

"Come on Donald, we can't stay behind!"

"But Daisy… I'm not really fond of Limbo"

"Oh, come on Donald!"

"Yeah. Hear your lady and have some fun, old duck!"

"Who are you calling old you disrespectful ninja wannabe!"

"What did you call me?!"

Cloud looked at the scene with a baffled, Sora couldn't help but to laugh.

"Hey Sora, want to see who can do it better?" asked Kairi with a smile on her face and extending her hand to him.

"Of course! And let's force Riku to join!" he said jumping to take her hand and go with her.

"Oh, no, I'm not doing it!"

"Oh, yeah, you're going to do it Riku!"

"Why should I?" asked the teen as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"Because, this is in part my birthday party and it wouldn't be the same if my best friend didn't play with us!" he whined and gave him a taste of his most powerful weapon: his puppy dog eyes.

"OH, No! Not fair! Turn those away from me!!!" Riku started to run as Sora persecuted him.

Cloud sighed and found that Leon had taken refuge by his side.

"Will you run away from this battle?" asked the gunman.

The blonde looked to be thinking it, but soon enough he noticed Tifa waving at him.

"I'm afraid this is battle you can't run away from," he said with a sigh.

Leon saw Yuffie coming their way and sighed as well.

"Yeah, no matter where you go, they will find you… better go and get it over with."

The two men took what was left of wine in their glasses with a single gulp and walked decidedly towards the challenge that waited them ahead… a fatal game of limbo.

* * *

They played for almost five hours.

The king and queen demonstrated awfully great abilities in Limbo, but -and surprising everyone- Cloud ended up in first place. He said it was due to his military training, but, you should have seen him. Boy! He could really get low!

After that, they played charades. They divided in teams according to their worlds. And it wasn't really difficult to guess that Destiny Island's group just sucked. Sora was completely useless when it came to guessing and Riku just simply couldn't manage to make anything understandable. The only reason as to why they didn't end up in the last place was because Radiant garden's group was even more helpless than theirs. At least Kairi gave Sora's team a few points, but no one could save any point for Leon's group. Tifa and Aerith couldn't understand anything that Cloud, Leon or Yuffie tried to represent, so they were doomed. Disney's, of course, won the first place for they even had their own code for this stuff. Daisy explained to them that this was a very common way to pass the time in their castle, which in turn made everyone think about how much free time this people really had.

Then they went for a few sparring matches. This part made Riku, Leon and Cloud happy. They were tired of child games, but as soon as they were forbidden to use especial abilities and real weapons they began to whine childishly. Sora had no problem with this, for he was enjoying himself dearly. Kairi could see the shine in his eyes and soon challenged him to simple struggle match.

Later on, came a little magic display by Donald. Some fireworks and mystical illusions. Sora wanted to participate and with the help of Donal and Goofy he used his drive to show everyone a few amazing tricks with his keyblades.

In sum, they had an amazing night.

* * *

It was already eleven o'clock. By then, the table, decorations and remaining food had already been packed inside the gummi ship, but they just couldn't leave. The friends had decided that they could stay the night in the Island, after all it had a really good weather and the rising tide still left them a pretty good portion of the beach where they could just relax and watch the stars. They were very tired, but they were happy and satisfied. Especially since Sora officially declared: "This had been the best birthday ever!" even thought it wasn't really his birthday yet.

Now they could relax and smile as their mission in this visit had been completed.

Leon and his group were mesmerized by the beauty of the sky of this world and listened with all their attention to the explanation Riku gave about the different constellations and stars that he knew about. The teen seemed to have a story for almost every star in the sky.

Leon smiled as he noticed that Yuffie and Aerith had fallen asleep against the bark of a palm tree. Tifa was hearing the stories but was slowly dozing off by Aerith's side.

They had come in the King's gummi ship which was big enough to carry them all since Cid had modified it. Therefore, as long as the king wished to stay in the Island, they had no rush to leave. Besides, everyone deserved a vacation.

"And what is that one called?" asked Mickey softly as his queen slept peacefully against his shoulder.

"That's the Blitz minor," Riku said with a nostalgic smile. "We used to call it Avex and actually, that's the official name. But since our friends Wakka and Tidus won their first Blitzball championship we kind of decided to rename it in their honor."

"Haha, to rename a star in name of a game, what a funny idea," laughed the king.

"Well, it wasn't my idea, actually it was Sora's. Right, Sora?" he turned to his friend only to find him leaning against a palm tree and while Kairi –surprisingly-had her head on his lap, both of them deeply asleep. He could only smile. "Already sleep. I was hoping to give him his birthday punch at midnight, but as always he tries to avoid it," he chuckled softly at the peaceful faces of the two sleeping teens.

"Well, it seems it was too much excitement for one day, don't you think so, your Majesty?" asked the court magician with half lidded eyes.

"It seems so. Better to leave them drift into slumber. And within dreams, may their wishes come true and their beautiful experiences enhanced as they travel through a world where they won't receive any harm…" as he recited his words, his loyal companions allowed themselves to be taken away by Morpheus gentle hands. Even Leon and Cloud allowed themselves to follow.

"That sounds nice," commented Riku. "Was it a spell or something?" he asked with a curiosity.

"Haha, only a little something that elder's at my home recite to the tired but stubborn children so they will fall asleep," answered the mouse with a fond smile at his dearest friend.

Riku turned to look at his two sleeping companions. How he cared for this two. Gently he removed some bangs of red hair from Kairi's face and then petted Sora's head softly.

"It seems I worried too much for nothing," he said letting a deep yawn escape him.

"I'm sure Sora appreciates your concern, but as you've seen, he was quite well. Not even once did he seem weak or sick."

"Yeah, you're right," he rubbed his eyes slightly and stretched his arms before using them as pillow for his head. "Good night, Mickey."

"Good night, Riku. May you have good dreams," said the king as he lost himself in the sight of the three most shining stars in the sky and falling asleep.

With nothing more to worry about and feeling completely covered by the presence of everyone around him, Riku allowed his body and mind to be lost in slumber.

The wind blew softly singing lullabies in their ears, and all was surrounded by peace, complete and utter peace. But what they all were oblivious of was that not everyone was asleep. With his eyes closed and relaxing as much as he could, he just enjoyed of this simple calm waiting for the night to advance.

* * *

It was almost morning, the soft cold of the dawn made her snuggle in the blanket that covered her body. Some unconscious part of her mind made her wonder if she had a blanket before falling asleep. But before she could wonder anymore, she felt a strong pull in her chest. It was cold and painful; she shivered and soon noticed that it was something in her heart, someone calling her. She wanted to try to listen to the words that were being whispered, but it became so overwhelmingly painful that she felt herself lose the little consciousness that she had. The last thing that went through her mind was the thought that Sora wasn't by her side as he was before falling asleep, and then only darkness surrounded her.

* * *

"Kairi?"

She felt someone calling her.

"Kairi," it was there again. "Kairi wake up!" that voice was whining again. "Come on, you've gotta see this, is a one-time-in-a-life thing!" exclaimed the voice of girl.

Kairi slowly opened her eyes and saw the blurry image of her ninja friend. Yawning she rubbed her eyes to see better and noticed the overjoyed expression of her dear friend. "Yuffie? What's happening?"

"Shhh! Don't speak aloud or you'll ruin it!" the girl told Kairi to look at the other side, to the palm trees, to the place where Leon and Cloud had fallen asleep. "Check that out," she said barely containing her laugher inside. Apparently, Cloud and Leon had slept too close from each other. Kairi had to bit her tongue to keep from laughing. Leon was sprawled on the floor with one hand on Cloud's hair as the other warrior was holding him as if he was his personal teddy bear.

"Mommy…" mumbled the blonde as he snuggled against the other.

"(snore) …it's Leon…(snore)"

That did it. The girls burst out laughing as hard as they could, which in turn woke the two men up.

"What?" both asked before noticing their compromising position. It took only the blink of an eye for them to put as much distance as they could from each other. The girls kept laughing. This woke up the rest of the group, who where completely oblivious of the scene that just went through.

"Kai, why is this about?" asked the drowsy Riku.

"Oh, don't worry Riku, I've got it all in my camera!" exclaimed the ninja but soon she was buried underneath the two angry and very embarrassed warriors as they fought to take the camera from her hand.

"Where did she hide it?" asked the confused teenager.

"Ninja skills, Riku! Ninja skills!" yelled the young girl escaping from Leon's grasp.

The group sweat dropped. What a way to wake up!

But then a comment broke between their complaints.

"Where we wearing this blankets before going to sleep?" asked the queen as she looked at the one that covered her and the king.

"Now that you mention it…" Daisy noticed that one was over her and Donald. Everyone had a Blanket on. Even Leon and Cloud had one, but they lost it when they rolled into their weird position before waking up.

"This… this are the blankets we keep in storage on the other side of the island, right Kairi?" he asked her as he inspected it. She did the same.

"Yes. This one's mine. It has my initial," she answered. Riku agreed with her. The others followed their example and noticed that some of their's also had a letter.

"These are part of the emergency kit … but why?" asked Riku in confusion.

"It must have been Sora… he's the only one that could have done it," said Kairi while looking around. "Speaking of Sora, where is he?" she asked as suddenly the anxiety from her dream came back to her.

"Now that you mention it… I was hoping to wake him up and give him the official birthday punch but he's not here." She rolled her eyes at his comment; this was an every year thing.

"That's weird, he normally wakes up late," she said looking around. "It's been an hour since the dawn at most; the sun is not even completely out yet,"

Both friends started to get worried as they got up and cleaned their clothes from the sand.

"Now, now. No need to get nervous. Maybe the cold of the morning made Sora stir up and he went to get a blanket. On the way, he might have thought about bringing some for us as well," reasoned Mickey. "He probably was so excited of today being his birthday that he couldn't go back to sleep so went to take a walk."

Everyone seemed satisfied with that, everyone except Kairi for she was feeling a weird uneasiness in her chest.

"Well, whatever it is, let's get clean and go look for him," said Riku. "There's access to clean water close by, so if the girls could follow Kairi, they can get cleaned. Then I'll take the guys, is that fine?" everyone agreed, and so they did it.

* * *

"Geez! Next time I should remember how much I hate to sleep with my daily clothes on!" complained Yuffie as she reached back to his friends.

Everyone was officially awake after having clean up a little. Now the question was, where was the birthday boy?

"Where could he have gone?" asked Riku starting to get worried again since his friend hadn't showed up since they woke up. They had looked around the place but didn't found him anywhere in that side of the Island.

"Riku… what if he felt sick while we were asleep and decided to head back home?" Kairi asked getting more and more anxious by the second.

Riku brought a hand to his right temple as he thought about it. That could very much have happened. Damn it! Knowing Sora, if he felt sick he wouldn't have woken them up… not if he believed he would be alright by himself. _"And now he could be drifting in the middle of the ocean and… EARTH TO RIKU! NO TIME TO MUSE ABOUT THINGS! MOVE!"_

"Let's look at the docks," he said, and receiving a nod from Kairi both run to the other side of the Islands through the secret passage way by the star tree, leaving behind a group of confused friends to soon follow them.

* * *

Kairi and Riku soon reached the other side of the Island and jumped with expertise to the floor. Unfortunately for the others, they weren't expecting the sudden lack of footing. There was a loud thud as they all fell and piled up on the floor.

"Sorry," said Kairi as they run to the dock, but before reaching it Riku stopped. "Riku?"

"Of course… why didn't I think about it?" asked the boy with a smile on his face as he pointed to the other side for Kairi to see.

She turned and saw that Riku was pointing at their favorite paopu tree and on the bark she could recognize a black and white spot that could only be Sora's clothing.

"What is it?" asked Cloud as he dusted his trousers.

"Over there," exclaimed Kairi in relief.

They all turned to where she was pointing and identified the clothing of the young keyblade wielder.

"Only Sora would find it comfortable to rest on that tree," commented the silver haired teen as he run to the shed to reach his friend with Kairi close behind.

The rest of the group followed them, but Aerith stopped when she something flapping from a bush close to the waterfall. She took it and inspected it. It was a blanket of a very soft material and it had the initial 'S' plus a crown drawing embroidered on it. She guessed it was Sora's, but the fact that it was left abandoned like that made her feel a foreboding sensation. Something was not right.

* * *

"Sora! Get up lazy you bum!" said Kairi with a small smile as she and Riku went ahead to wake their friend. "Come on Sora, today is your birthday, wake up."

"Hey Sora, wake up! You won't escape from me this year!" announced the teenage boy as he got closer to his sleeping friend. The boy was sprawled on the tree's trunk. Both legs and and one arm hanging and another arm on his stomach, as he rested with a very peaceful face. "Come on, buddy, wake-" but Riku's words died in his throat as he noticed that his friend's face was ghostly white, even paler than it had been the night before when he collapsed. "Sora!" Riku ran towards him and could hear Kairi doing the same. He felt dread.

The teen reached for his best friend and took his hand to try to pull him out of his sleep only to notice how cold it was, it almost made him flinch away. His eyes widened when Sora's body started to fall to the side making no resistance at all, only because of the soft pulling motion he had done. Acting out of reflex, Riku caught his friend's body before it made contact with the sand.

And as he held the limp body of the boy in his arms close to his chest, Riku could feel how his world slowly fell apart.

"H-he… he is not breathing…" and with a gasp from the girl behind him he knew that hers was breaking as well.

* * *

Well that was chapter two. Hope you enjoyed it.

R&R


	3. Happy Birthday

Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts or any music mentioned in the author notes.

Note: Sorry for the bad grammar or vocabulary usage.

I will give you some music advices for the background, the majority of this chapter was written while listening to "The other promise" from kingdom hearts II –album Drammatica.

You may find it enjoyable to try.

Well, let's begin.

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* * *

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Keyblade's Will

**Chapter III**

**Happy birthday**

* * *

Riku laid his friend's body over the sandy ground and kneeled besides him, quickly searching for pulse at his neck. Kairi watched silently with widened eyes as Riku leaned over the younger teen's chest trying with all his might to hear something, anything. "No…" mumbled Riku as he raised his head to look at his friend's calm face. "Sora! Please!" he begged shaking the boy's arms harshly. "Come on, Sora! You got to wake up!" the desperation began to cloud over his mind. No matter how much he searched the only thing he found was the deafening silence of an un-beating heart.

"Sora… please…" Kairi could only feel the pain within her heart increase as she noticed the void within it. She couldn't feel him. She had always been able to feel his presence even when they were far apart; after all, their hearts were connected. But now, it was as if he wasn't there, laying on the sand as Riku tried to wake him up, and the concept soon made her gasp in agony. He wasn't anymore.

From the bridge, two sets of running feet could be heard, but neither of both friends could care about who they were.

Leon took on the scene in front of them with startled eyes. Riku was shaking Sora's body begging him to wake up while Kairi slid slowly to the ground beside one of the many palm trees a little away from her other two friends. When the older teen asked the seemingly unconscious Sora to breath, Leon's training kicked in.

"Move!" he ordered as he pushed Riku out of the way. He leaned over Sora's form and searched for a pulse since he was already aware that he wasn't breathing. He searched his neck and wrist' pressure points but found no pulse at all. "Cloud," he called to his companion to come closer. Leon used both hands to touch Sora's chest till he found the right place to position them on. Cloud, noticing what Leon had in mind, moved quickly to kneel by the teen's head in order to assist his companion in the CPR procedure. But for a moment, Cloud hesitated. Leon threw him an annoyed glance that was clearly an effort to hide his growing fear. "Cloud?" the blonde reacted and nodded to the other warrior. He proceeded to tilt Sora's jaw upwards while opening his mouth to clear his air ways from any obstruction.

As the two men worked desperately to reanimate the key bearer's heart, the other members of their group finally caught up with them. The sight that welcomed them was far from what they had hoped, and it filled their hearts with dread.

Minnie covered her mouth as she walked beside the bewildered Mickey. Behind them, Donald gasped at the scene while goofy let out a choked sound. Daisy went to Minnie's side to offer her some support since their king was, obviously, too absorbed by the situation to actually notice his wife's distress. The king's head could only register one single thought. _"No…"_

Aerith and Tifa being more mature and having gone through terrible things before, were able to keep their control as they noticed what was going on and moved to keep everyone at a prudent distance from Leon and Cloud. But their efforts only made them notice the two broken figures that were Sora's best friends as they watched the two more experienced warriors trying to bring their friend's heart back to life.

Sighing, Tifa went to Riku's side. She wouldn't have thought that such a strong willed teenager could ever look so helpless; his fists shook from the rage of not being able to help and from the horror of having to rely his friend's well being in other's hands. The poor boy flinched every time Leon pressed Sora's chest and every time Cloud gave him artificial respiration. Tifa put a supporting hand on his shoulder hoping with all her heart that this will only become a bad memory that they could even joke about later as they celebrated the boy's birthday, but every second that went by, her hopes started to wither.

Following Tifa's example, Aerith went to offer Kairi some support. She held the girl's shaking shoulders as she embraced her gently. Kairi was so cold, pale and unresponsive that Aerith feared she had gone into shock. Knowing that she could not actually reach her, she did the only thing that could at least give her some help. The brown haired woman placed the blanket she had found over the girl's shoulders. A few tears fell from Kairi's eyes as she watched, almost in trance, the unresponsive body of her dearest friend being treated to no avail. Aerith could only imagine the horrible pain that must have been going through the girl's heart.

Yuffie, stood by Goofy's side in silence. She was confused as to how to react to what was going on. She couldn't understand what could possibly have harmed Sora and she felt a naïve confidence that everything was going to be O.K. After all, this situation lacked any kind of logic. Sora could not be defeated by anything, so this was just impossible.

But, no matter what anyone was doing or thinking of, there was one thing for sure, those few minutes where the most excruciating of their lives.

And then, suddenly, they were over.

Cloud stopped moving and clenched his teeth. He lowered the boy's head and closed his mouth making his face recover the relaxed expression he had when they arrived. Then –with his eyes still focused on the boy's face- he placed a hand on Leon's arm to stop him from continuing with this ruse. Leon looked at him with confusion at being stopped, but one glance at Cloud's solemn face was all he needed to understand that there was no point in continuing it. The blonde turned to look at all the pairs of eyes that watched them with expectance, only to deliver the –perhaps- most dreadful message he had delivered in his whole life.

Everyone gasped.

"No…", whispered Mickey as he saw Cloud shaking his head. "You… he can't…" his eyes fell over Kairi and Riku's darkened faces. Something had been broken within them both and it was painfully obvious to anyone that saw their vacant expressions. He heard Minnie sobbing, and he could feel the soft burning sensation in the corners of his eyes that indicated him that he wished to cry, but he did his best to conceal this, at least for now. He heard a painful moan, almost a howl, escape Goofy's throat as the captain of the royal army fell to his knees, unable to keep himself up. But this was dulled by the –almost unintelligible- words of his court's magician.

"No! …no, you can't mean…!" said the duck, being the first to defy Cloud's statement. Overcome by his fear, the magician raised his staff and screamed. "CURAGA!" A green light shined over the boy's body and a soft sound like the chime of wind bells filled everyone's ears, but even that beautiful sound didn't manage to wake the young warrior from his peaceful sleep. "CURAGA!" Donald screamed feeling the tears starting to form in his eyes, but his friend didn't wake up. "CURAGA!" he yelled again as the first rebellious tears fell down his feathery cheeks. "Curaga!" And the light shined the brightest but even then, nothing changed. "Cu-!" Before he could say the magic spell again, he felt a gentle but firm hand stop him from raising the staff. He turned to his king as he looked at him with the saddest expression he had ever sported in his otherwise jolly face. The eyes of the king begged him to stop and with his other hand he signed his friend to look at the other side. Donald followed the king's hand to look at Kairi who was shaking and crying silently as the green light of the last curing spell evaporated from her friend's body. "Sorry…" he mumbled, understanding that he was making this more difficult for them. "But… but…" he felt the need to try it again, the hope that it may work this time was the only thing keeping him up on his feet.

"Donald…" the king said, his voice giving away the tears he wanted so much to conceal. "Sora is not hurt, Donald… Curaga can't help him now."

Those words pierced the magician's heart as he finally understood the truth in them. He quacked loudly and braced himself shaking from the shock of what this revelation meant. There was nothing he or any magic in any world could do to help, nothing at all. "Sora! …no… Sora…" he cried as he fell just as Goofy had, both completely overwhelmed by this. It was unconceivable to think that Sora would never travel with them again… it had always been 'all for one and one for all'… but that could never work without one, especially, without him…

Daisy cried harder at the sight of her beloved in so much pain, but she could not let go of Minnie as she needed the her support now more than ever. The lady duck closed her eyes trying hard not to see the body of the young boy that they were supposed to have fun with in this visit… who could have guessed something like this would have happened, and more than anything, to him?

Tifa didn't know what to do, Riku was simply unresponsive. He just stared ahead like a zombie. She didn't know how to help. That's when Yuffie let out a nervous laugh. She tried to make Squall say that they were joking; nothing could beat Sora, Nothing! Tifa looked at her with pity. Yuffie was such a joyous spirit that this tragic development was proving to be too much for her to digest it all. But Leon wasn't going lie to her, not about something like this. She had to wake up and see truth before she got hurt worse. He asked her to understand that they were talking seriously, but she denied it. "You're lying! You must be!" she screamed in panic but a fierce glare from Leon was all she needed to be convinced of the truth in his words. The young ninja fell on the sandy floor panting as she cried.

Aerith turned to look pleadingly at Tifa who quickly understood her silent petition. Giving one last glance at the broken form of the teenager she could not offer comfort to, she went to the side of her ninja friend hoping to stop her before she hyperventilate.

Aerith shook her head at Yuffie's reaction; her gentle and loving heart seemed to be drowning in all the pain that surrounded her. Soft tears fell down her face as she looked at Cloud and Leon's figures, both kneeling besides the body of their dear friend, doing their best to keep their emotions in check, but they could not fool her. Aerith could see right through their controlled masks, and it was a really horrible sight.

The woman felt her hands shaking, but not because of her own pain but because the shoulders she had laid them on were shaking, yet again. Aerith knew that, as with Riku, there was nothing she could actually do to make it right for the young girl. Sighing, she arranged the blanket to cover better her shaking form from the wind. The pain in her chest intensified when she noticed the initial 'S' and the crown embroidered on the soft material. Now she knew why she had that bad feeling before, and it was worse than she had thought it would be.

(a.n.: Ventus' theme fits this scene very well.)

Kairi wasn't even aware of Aerith's presence, but she did notice the weird feeling of something embracing her tenderly. Instinctively, she brought the source of this comforting feeling closer to her cold body and detected a familiar smell on the fabric. She wrapped it around herself, wishing it was Sora's arms instead of his old favorite blanket. But for an instant, as she closed her eyes, she could have sworn it was him hugging her from behind, bringing her close to his strong beating heart. She could almost hear him whispering comforting words to her ear as he rested his head on her right shoulder. She allowed herself to smile a little, but soon a gust of wind brought her back to the harsh reality. Her eyes opened and she saw Sora laying there, forever deep in slumber, and she knew that he wouldn't hug her… ever again…

Riku's fists clenched and unclenched as he digested the situation. Sora was alright just yesterday… ok… he had fainted, but he was still alright. Before going to sleep, he was just fine. No one simply… like that… there was no way… it couldn't be… Sora was… he was…

Riku's face showed no particular emotion as he mused things in his mind. If it weren't for the shadows that his long white bangs casted over his eyes one would say he looked completely serene, but that was just a consequence of all the things that were passing through his mind. At that moment, Riku was feeling so many maddening and confusing feelings that his heart couldn't actually hold on to one long enough for his face to make an expression for it. To Riku, everything had lost its meaning. Nothing mattered at all, nothing but his two best friends, Kairi and Sora, alive or not, they were the only things left for him to hold on to, either that or he would loose his sanity; which was an irony, for it was Sora who might just be the reason for his possible madness.

"He's been… gone for a while," everyone turned to look at Cloud with startled gazes. The man was inspecting the boy's relaxed face with a somber expression. "I hoped I was wrong when we arrived but…" Cloud shut his eyes before swallowing the lump in his throat, the guilt was threatening to consume him. He opened his eyes and proceeded to open one of Sora's eyes. "His pupils are completely dilated," then he closed it and took off one of his gloves before touching the boy's cheeks. "The skin is void of any corporal warmth and his facial expression is lax," he moved his fingers to the jaw. "No particular pressure… no sign of struggle and his tongue is pale but otherwise normal in color as well as his lips… I doubt it was poisoning or asphyxia," The blonde looked at Leon who nodded in agreement at his words. "Maybe a wound… Leon, could you help me here?" the other man nodded and moved to help him remove Sora's black jacket, but before either men could do anything to the teen's body, both were pushed away from him and to the ground. Cloud had to hold on to the paopu tree's trunk to avoid falling to the ocean bellow. He turned and watched with surprise at the enraged face of Riku. He wasn't sure how to react at the teen's first reaction since this began.

"Do not touch him," seethed the white haired teen.

"We have to verify if he received any injury or if there's any kind of physical reason for this to happen," said the startled Leon as he watched Kairi who, surprisingly, had thrown him to the ground. "The sooner we do it the bet-" The empty look she send him was enough to make him shut his mouth. There was no point in giving reasons. Kairi shook her head and kneeled besides the body of the boy that had been, for as long as she could remember, her most important person.

"I understand your reasons," Riku said as he kneeled by Sora's head. "But not here, and definitely, not this way!" his fists tightened so much that his knuckles became white and his nails started to pierce his palm's skin. "It's just… disgraceful," he said with disgust. "You will not examine him the way you examine the carcass of a dead bird in the ground, all exposed. I will not allow that," he growled but then relaxed as he brushed some brown locks from the younger boy's face. "Not to my best friend..."

The feeling of his cold skin under his fingers and the things he had just said had made this situation unbearably real. This was actually happening… _"Sora… why can't this be another of your stupid bad jokes? ... What did this to you?... It's completely illogical… you were supposed to be there when we woke up and smile that stupid smile of yours as we said…"_

"Happy birthday…" Kairi mumbled as tears continued to fall down her face. She had said it so softly that it was obvious that no one was meant to hear it. But it was alright. This was between the three of them, no else mattered; none of the people that watched them silently mattered anymore. He nodded at her words, letting her know that he was with her and that he also wished to say the same. The first bitter tear fell down his eye and landed on his friend's shirt. How much he really wanted to say 'happy birthday' as well.

"Riku is right, Leon," said the king walking to the man's side. "It's not the place…" he looked at the two grieving teenagers in sad contemplation. "Nor the time for something like that. No matter the reason…" Leon lowered his head in shame. "It's not honorable for a true Hero to be treated like that…" they were right, Riku and the king, it was disgraceful to do that to Sora in a place like this. "Even thought… it's not even logical… that he…" Mickey's voice died within his throat as he tried to contain his suffering. For his distressed companions, for the many broken hearts that were created by this, and even for the sake of Sora's peaceful sleep, he could not allow himself to break, not yet. He needed to get to the bottom of this before he could even think of letting his feelings out. "Let's… get him home," he said as he turned to face those who belonged to his world. And he –against his normal attitude- ordered them to head for the gummi ship not giving them the chance to protest. He had to do it that way, because he knew that some of them were about to collapse from emotional exhaustion. That's why, he trusted Goofy to escort the ladies by his side. Donald was barely able to walk, it was better not to put to much pressure on him now.

Aerith, seeing the Disney party leaving, decided that it would be best to go as well. But, before doing so, she took the blanket from where it had landed when Kairi jumped to stop Leon. She gently walked to the girl's side. Understanding the desolation within her void teary eyes, Aerith simply spread the soft cloth over the young boy's corpse, covering his face and most of his body. Closing her eyes she hoped that wherever he was now, he was at peace, and that the suffering that they all felt didn't disturb his rightful rest.

The woman looked at Cloud in the eyes and offered him a tender smile to which he nodded understanding her good whishes for the boy. Then, she turned to leave and help Tifa to carry the still shaking Yuffie.

Cloud made his way to the side of the covered body and flinched at the idea of the boy being really gone. He had acted all controlled but the truth was he was just hiding the sadness and rage that this provoked within him. Just a few hours ago, he had shaken hands with him whishing to be friends for as long as they could… and now, the boy was dead… and he was feeling so guilty and so ashamed of his actions. How could he have dared to even think of dirtying the memory of a friend by treating his body as a mere leftover?... _"Heh…bet Zack would have punched me by now" _he thought with a bittersweet smile.

Needing to do something to repair the damage he offered:

"I'll take him to the gummi ship. That way, we'll get to main land faster," but before he could take the body in his arms, Riku stood up and walked to his side.

"No. I'll do it," Cloud couldn't deny that right to Sora's best friend, so he backed away obediently to allow the upset teenager to take his place.

The white haired teen placed an arm under Sora's head, the other under his legs and proceeded to cradle his limp body against his chest. In any other situation, he would have mocked Sora for needing him to carry him in bridal style, but now, there was nothing to joke about. With a saddened expression, the teen carried the covered body of his best friend all the way to the bridge. Kairi walked close to him, almost as if to make sure that Sora was comfortable and that he didn't need help carrying him. The older boy nodded in acknowledgement, feeling -at least- slightly better by having her presence by his side and having the weight of his friend's body close to his heart. Even thought, his little world was crashing, it was ok, because at least, he could dream that they were still together, always the three of them.

Leon watched Yuffie being helped by Aerith and Tifa as they followed the other group in what seemed to be a funeral procession.

"This shouldn't have ended this way. We came here to smile and have fun… not to be swallowed by tragedy again," he commented as he felt the rage within him boiling.

"Indeed, this shouldn't be happening," said the blonde warrior.

"Did you notice anything?"

"It's difficult to say… As I mentioned before, he was already gone when we arrived. The climate of this islands is very warm, and even the cold of the dawn is not very harsh. I noticed slight and almost imperceptible stiffening on his jaw and fingers, meaning it could have happened only an hour ago… but because of what I told you of the climate, I believe the rigor mortis could have been delayed… I just got the feeling that this might have happened some time ago… maybe before dawn, when it was very warm and still dark… but we can't be really sure without further examination," Cloud explained crossing his arms over his chest.

"There will be time for that later," both men turned to look at the King as he watched the procession with a solemn face. "I can't believe this is happening… he was so happy just a few hours ago… I can only hope that he went in peace," both men nodded as they lowered their heads solemnly. "Riku… Kairi… I hope they can overcome this… such a terrible tragedy… it will take time for everyone to stand after this…" Suddenly his sad face filled with determination. "But, for Sora's and everyone's sake, I know one thing for sure!" he declared looking at his two companions. "After all the examination is done and the reason found," he turned to watch the disappearing figures of his friends. "The responsible for this will pay!" he concluded frowning.

The two men agreed with the king. Whoever had been responsible will pay with his or her life for having dared to take their friend's away.

****

* * *

Hope you enjoyed it!

R&R


	4. Kiss him goodbye

Before starting I just want to leave something clear: this is not yaoi, it's never been, and it'll never be.

Disclaimer: I don't own kingdom hearts or it's characters.

* * *

**Keyblade's Will**

**Chapter IV**

**"Kiss him goodbye"**

Mickey sighed as he hid his face in his hands. He knew it was never easy to tell a mother about a son's death, but this was beyond his expectations. He was prepared for fear, he was prepared for rage and utter heartbreak and even to be call a liar, but never-even in his wildest dream- expected Sora's mother to react this way. Never.

A woman sat silently over the family couch in her living room. The dead body of her son laid on it, resting his head on her lap the same way she had done when he was only a child, still scared of his nightmares and dependant of her love. Her eyes were filled with adoration as she looked at him with a gentle smile. Her mouth moved singing a lullaby to ensure his peaceful rest. Her hands caressed his brown locks, so slowly, so softly, it was lovely to see. Then she would take his face in her hands and lower her head to give him a kiss. She would kiss his cold forehead to ensure the sweet dreams, a kiss to each cheek to make him smile, a kiss to the chin to make him proud, a kiss to the nose to let him know she was there and finally a kiss to each eye telling him to be brave. No monsters or bad dreams will come close to her son again.

It killed the king to see the mother kissing her son to sleep. Because that's what she said he was, sleep. She ignored every explanation, every one's words; she just took her baby to rest with her on the couch. It was his birthday, and he was allowed to sleep in as much as he wanted to. She will wait for him to come back from dreamland, after all, she had waited a year a half for him to come back, and she would do it again.

Worried about her well being, Cloud and Leon tried to make her understand that ignoring the truth would not bring him back to life. But she ignored them anyway. And when they tried to recover the body, to their surprise, the two friends of the fallen key bearer stood in front of them, shielding the mother from their intentions. They will be there with her, making sure he was comfortable, they promised. She looked at Riku and thanked him for keeping his promise and bringing him back to her for his birthday. When he smiled at her, the king widened his eyes so much he thought they would fall from their sockets. But the young boy paid no mind to his reaction, he just told her he wished she had been there to see Sora smile so much before going to sleep. Kairi told her about how much fun they had, and that the boy must have been so very exhausted.

The king couldn't believe they were playing along that lie. He was worrying about their own mental sanity, especially when they both took a seat on each side of the couch's feet. Kairi sat on the floor, next to Sora's mom. She still held to the hand of her dearest friend. She rubbed it gently as if trying to share some of her body heat with his deadly cold fingers, as if those movements were to make them move to take hers with the care they had done before. Riku kept silent as he sat by Sora's feet, his eyes watching how these two women covered his dearest friend with affection.

Leon and Cloud couldn't feel worst. They had been banned -by the guarding teen- from approaching. But they needed to hurry, the later they examined the body, the more clues they could lose. They needed to do something.

That's when someone ringed the door's bell.

"Might be your friends," whispered the mother to her son. "Riku, dear, would you please go answer? Please tell them that Sora is still sleeping, maybe they could come later, or wait for him to wake up?"

The silver haired boy simply nodded his head and left the room. His eyes giving a warning to the other occupants, if they did anything, Riku would know.

There was no sound for a while except from the sound of the sweet lullaby, but then, they heard a loud whaling cry; it seemed to be a girl's. Riku came back inside, by his side, a young boy with orange hair and big muscles entered. His face was grim, but calm. He didn't even pay attention to the weird people in the room, his gaze landed on his friend's body. A sudden tender shine entered his saddened eyes.

"So it's true," he said with a sense of finality.

"Yeah," said Riku with a sigh.

"Wakka, dear, thanks for coming, but he is still asleep. I'm sorry, but we'll celebrate later, ok?" the mother said softly while caressing her child's cheek.

If the boy was startled, he hid it very well. His calm face turned into a gentle smile as he said politely:

"Sure thing, Ma'am."

Riku sighed again, as if he was to do something annoying.

"He sure has some ways to fall sleep thought. To do this when he knew his mother was waiting," he grumbled.

"He's just a lazy bum like always," mumbled Kairi.

"That's true," answered him with another smile. Then the boy walked towards the mother touching her shoulder lightly and leaning down a little. "Ma'am, is it Ok if I take him to his room? He surely will rest better on his bed than the couch don't you think?"Mickey was surprised at how much Sora's mom trusted him, for she agreed almost immediately.

Kairi nodded towards Riku, who answered it back with his own. Then he leaned down and with utter care, took his friend's body away from his mother. It was slightly difficult since it was beginning to stiff, but it wasn't too bad either. The mother watched the 'sleeping' form of her son being taken away and for an instance she almost run to take him back, but was stopped by Kairi, who sat by her side and leaned her head against her shoulder. Silently, Kairi gave her permission to caress her hair and embrace her tightly. Riku nodded again to his friend.

Walking a little he turned to Wakka.

"Would you take care of things down here for a while?" he asked tiredly. Wakka nodded without thinking it twice.

Riku walked to the hallway that leaded to the stairs and without looking at them, he said to his other friends.

"Follow me," and without a question Cloud, Leon and Mickey followed.

* * *

Finally on his friend's room, the tired teen laid Sora's body on his former bed and looked at his peaceful face before backing away.

"OK… you may search him now," he said as he sat on the carpeted floor of the room.

Cloud and Leon nodded and moved to do their job, but Mickey stayed behind beside his friend. It was obvious to Riku that the king mouse wanted to ask him something.

"Before you even ask, let me tell you that we are not going crazy," declared the boy as he closed his eyes, feeling so very tired. "We did what was necessary in order to avoid her from braking. We promised to Sora not to allow her to break… no matter what…"

Mickey sat down by his side.

"Then… the whole sleeping thing…"

"If believing that he is asleep makes her continue to exist, then it's fine for her to believe it," he rubbed his eyes with his right hand before sighing again. " No matter what, she must survive."

Mickey found an underlying meaning on his words. He mentioned a promise. He didn't want the teen to concentrate on the work the others were doing nor did he want to, so he decided to ask.

"Can you tell me about this promise of yours?"

Riku looked at the ceiling with clouded eyes.

"Well, by now I'm sure you have guessed that Sora's dad is not around, right?" the king nodded sadly. "When he was nine, Sora's dad got sick and died. That day his mom almost went crazy. She used to consider her family her whole life. Sora would come to my home constantly, scared, telling me his mom wanted to go away with his daddy." Riku hid his face in his arms as he leaned against his knees. The king didn't know what to say. "It was by far, the darkest time of his short life. The lady was hysteric, she wanted to follow her husband so bad… even at the cost of leaving her only son alone," Riku looked at the little bedside table and pointed to the picture in it. The king took it in his hand and watched at it in awe. "The man carrying Sora is his dad. As you can see, they were really alike," the man had a strong looking body, but he had Sora's eyes and his tan skin, thou he was blond. "It was the resemblance with his dad that made her remain sane. Sora allowed her to let out her grief by crying and holding him against her chest. He did what Kairi is doing right now, just being there for her to let out whatever she needed to let out," Riku chuckled a little. "He acted so mature then… it was almost frightening…I used to get so mad at her for making Sora her scapegoat. I would shout at her, telling her to accept that uncle Toshirou was dead," Riku's body trembled with his voice. "But Sora would always ask me to let her be, in time, her heart would heal… in time she would finally understand… in time…" the king placed his hand on the teen's shoulder, Riku was getting lost in his memories, and he was being swallowed by misery. "He would act so matured then… I was scared… I thought that someone had taken my friend and replaced him with someone else… I was scared that she had hurt him badly… Kairi thought so as well…"

Riku turned to look at the ceiling and recovered his composure, thou it seemed to be lost. "That's when he asked us to promise… He asked us to promise that we will help him to keep her alive. Even if he couldn't, he wanted her to be safe… we thought it was his grief for having lost his father so soon… we thought he was finally crumbling by the stress, so we agreed in order to help him feel better… it seemed so important for him right then…" Mickey finally could see them, Riku was crying. "I never once thought it was going to become so real…" he said with a painful sob. "How did he do it? How did he manage not to crumble in front of her? I was there just two hours, it's been only two hours and I can't keep this inside any longer! Kairi is barely hanging there! How the hell did he manage to survive it!" he cursed feeling so week, so small, so afraid. "Just how strong do I need to be?" he whispered as he was consumed by his wrecking sobs.

Unable to find the right words, the king simply sat down next to his crying friend and rubbed his back slightly. Mickey wished he could help someway… if only they knew what had happened.

* * *

An hour later, Riku and the King where still sitting on the floor, but the boy seemed slightly better, he had let out much of the pressure in his chest, and thou he was still suffering, he could hold it better. That's when the two older warriors turned around to share their findings. Their faces seemed to tell bad news.

"So?" asked the king with nervousness.

"We searched his whole body for a sign of aggression…" said Cloud.

"Also for any kind of perforation or minimal wound…" added Leon. "But… even after performing the typical tests… we've found nothing," he said tightening his fists.

"What do you mean by nothing?" asked Riku startled.

"He means to say, that we don't know what may have caused this." Growled Cloud, he was feeling very frustrated by then.

"There must be something, no one just goes and dies like that!" exclaimed the King.

"Well, we found nothing," Leon turned to the boy's body. "But we haven't tried yet to do an autopsy… with a qualified healer it may…"

"NO," said Riku with determination taking everyone by surprise. "No one is going to open my friend up; there must be some other way!"

Everyone tried to think about it…

"Well… if normal procedures ain't helping …" said the king in thought. "Then how about a magical inspection?"

Everyone looked at the king, their expressions clearly said that they didn't get that quite right.

"That would be like an autopsy, but done through magic spells, the body won't have to be harmed and it would tell if another spell was used on him," the idea seemed to actually appease the young boy's mind.

"Is there someone in your crew that can make that?" asked Leon considering the possibilities.

"Well… actually, Donald could, but I doubt that in his condition he can even cast a basic fire spell," everyone seemed to get down at that. "But! How about we take him to Master Yen Sid!" he proposed. "Master Yen Sid is the greatest magician I know. If anyone can find the truth, that's him!"

By looking at his friend's determined face Riku felt relieved of his worry. He soon agreed to do that. Cloud seemed to think it a good idea, but Leon worried how they were going to be able to get Sora out of the house without making his mother getting a mental breakdown.

"Don't worry about it. Let us care about that." Said the teen.

* * *

It was difficult, but they finally convinced the mother that her son needed to go on a travel. They'll bring him back as soon as he wakes up, they promised. Maybe she knew she was acting crazy, maybe she finally went mad. Either way, she simply declared that she was angry with her child for not taking her feelings into account. She didn't want him back till he was awake enough to properly apologize for not letting her be part of his birthday. This was all they could get out of her before she went inside her house, not to come out again.

Riku and Kairi explained the situation to their own parents and even against their will they soon took the things they needed and headed to the gummi ship. Wakka, Tidus and Selphie promised to look after Sora's mom.

"When you know what happened… don't forget to come and tell us, ya?" said Wakka with a lower voice than it was used for him.

"Of course," said Riku shaking his hand.

Tidus got closer to his friend, a deep frown on his face. It was obvious that he was making all he could to keep his emotions in control.

"Riku…" he said, his voice laced with some anger. " If you find out who did this… could you tell me?" his fist shook in anger. "I know I'm not as special as you, Kairi or S-Sora… but, if there's even a chance of me giving the responsible a piece of my mind!" Riku noted both fists going white. "I won't be able to sleep well, not till I know!" he lowered his head feeling close to tears.

Riku placed a hand on his shoulder. Both looked into each other's eyes. Riku nodded.

"Count on it," he said firmly.

It had been evening when they left destiny Island. It took them all night to reach the castle of mysteries.

* * *

The travel to master Yen Sid's castle was a quiet one. No one dare say anything. The body of their friend rested on the bed at the infirmary and it seemed that no one wanted to be by his side this time. Maybe no one wanted to remember it, even Kairi and Riku. Who knew? But even when they arrived, they kept the body covered by the baby blue blanket. No one said a word. They just went inside.

At the last level of the castle, a tall man with a strong presence awaited for their arrival, inside his head the reason for their journey to see him had been revealed by the stars.

The door opened slowly, the sound of old hinges moving seemed more foreboding than usual.

"Master Yen sid," said the voice of his dearest apprentice. It was laced with pain and he knew that the stars had been right.

"The stars tell me a sad story; a few of them seem to have lost their normal luster. Might you and your companions, my dear friend, be the bearers of a tragedy?" he said without turning around, his gaze lost in the stars.

"I'm afraid it is, master."

Riku entered the room carrying Sora's body. That morning when he saw his face, he just couldn't recognize his friend in that corpse, he felt now –more than ever- that his friend was truly gone. Kairi walked by him, looking with a slight sense of curiosity to the surroundings of this magical place. No one else came, everyone else decided to remain on the gummi, awaiting the master's answer.

The old wizard turned around when he felt the princess of heart closing the door. His face was grave, a sad frown placed on it by his long eyebrows. His gaze stopped over the form that was being carried by the keybearer of dawn. He felt the air leaving him as he took sit on his own personal throne. As a Master, this was a great loss.

Moving his hand over his desk he cast a spell making his books disappear.

"Bearer of dawn, please, may you place the bearer of light over here? This way I may do what you came here to ask me to do."

Riku, already feeling numb from all the things they've been through since the other morning, proceeded to place the body of his friend over the desk, removing the blanket and backing away. Kairi seemed to be a little uncomfortable by this.

"Worry not, my dearest princess. I shall not infringe any damage to your dear friend." He said reassuring her. The wizard looked over the body of the young man he knew held the key of so many destinies together and felt a soft burning on the corner of his tired eyes. He soon closed them and rubbed them gently with his fingers. The king got closer to his former teacher.

"Master, is there something wrong?" he asked with worry. "Is there something I can do to help?"

The master opened his eyes thinking about the question.

"Oh, yes, there is. Mickey, could you go fetch Flora, Fauna and Merry weather? Tell them to prepare some tea for all our guests. Explain them the situation and tell them to tend first to the ones waiting downstairs for I need to concentrate here."

"Yes master." The king soon left the room through another door at the other side of the room.

"Now, please, tell me what happened while I inspect him? I need every detail you could give."

The two friends told the wizard the story as he moved his hands over their friend's body. He never touched Sora, he kept a few centimeters away from him, which made them feel a little more at easy. The master would make some comments from time to time about their story like "uh-huh" or "so that happened" but never more than that. Then he moved to be by the side of Sora's head and whispered some weird words. A soft light covered the corpse and lifted forming a soft orb of light that the master took in his hands. It was at this time that the king returned.

"Master?" he asked knowing by the light that the exam was over.

The wizard opened his eyes and looked over at the three waiting friends. Then sighed.

"I'm afraid, that the answer to the question you seek, isn't very pleasant, my friends," at his words the three closed in to the desk.

"Even if so, I need to know. What did this to Sora, please answer me, sir?" said Riku with great determination.

"Whatever the answer, there's nothing you can actually do about it, do you understand this young ones?" said the master with a solemn expression.

"We understand Master Yen Sid, please, tell us." Answered Kairi.

"Very well," the master stood up and turned to look at the stars again. "Sometimes, things that happen around us seem unfair and unreasonable, yet sometimes, those things are simply meant to happen, and they are supposed to be for the sake of much greater things than we can't even imagine. Some things happen without a real cause, and no one but the bearer of the tragedy knows the real meaning of their occurrence."

The master took a second to recover his breath before continuing.

"What's happened to your friend is sad, yet it was simply meant to happen, and no one is actually to be blamed for that."

Riku snapped.

"WHAT?" he tried to throw himself at the wizard but was stopped by the king.

"Riku, please, stop!" he screamed.

"ARE YOU SAYING MY FRIEND WAS MEANT TO DIE? ARE YOU FRIKIN' SAYING SORA JUST SIMPLY DIED? JUST LIKE THAT?"

"Riku, I'm sure that we may have misu-"

"I'm afraid that no one nor anything had attacked your friend, bearer of the dawn," Said the master with a powerful voice stopping his apprentice from finishing. "You may see it the way it is now and always. Your friend simply went to sleep, and he never woke up. There's no wounds nor spells. Not other reasons for this. It just happened, because it has."

Riku tried to thrown himself at him again. "NO! IT CAN'T," angry tears were falling from his eyes. No one simply died just because!

"You may stop a second bearer of dawn and consider how much your words can hurt the friend that you still have left by your side," he said and pointed to his desk. Riku turned just to see Kairi, crying softly, holding one of Sora's stiff hands. He immediately shut up, biting hard on his lower lip; he fell down, sitting where the King was holding him, crying bitterly.

"It's as if he had gone to sleep and he just didn't wake up," she mumbled between sobs. "It means, he didn't suffer, right?" she turned to look at the old wizard. "Sora… he, didn't felt any pain or anguish did he?" she asked, begging him to tell her.

The old magician walked over to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. He smiled, not a happy smile, but a sympathetic one.

"If you wish, you may see it yourself," he said, showing her the little orb of light he held with utmost care on his right hand.

"See?" asked the tired Riku.

"Indeed. Using a spell, I extracted this. It's a piece of Sora's memories, the last ones that hold on to him before he… fell into his deep sleep. I can show them to you two, only if you promise to hold them, dear and close to your hearts, always," the two friends got closer to the wizard. "Consider them, a gift, from him to you both…" the room was filled with light and everything else disappeared from their sight.

* * *

(Memories)

It was a weird mixture of images. They seemed a little bit cloudy.

The boy stood up from his resting position. With much care he placed the sleeping girl softly on the ground, allowing her to keep on dreaming. He turned to see his best friend snoring softly and chuckled. He felt a little embarrassed about what he did next, but nevertheless he did it. He gently placed a kiss on the girl's forehead and then one on the boy's… the last one made him feel a little silly, but he had so many emotions running inside him, he didn't knew other way to convey them to the both.

The boy stood up and slowly went away from them.

Then the memories went blank for a few seconds.

The next ones were of the boy, placing a blanket over his dear friends, each time saying a soft "goodnight" to them.

Then the memories went white again.

The next image was of him walking by the shore with his own blanket in one hand, the more he walked, the more tired he became. He wanted to sleep so badly. He turned to look at his favorite spot at the paopu palm tree's trunk.

The memories skipped till a part where he was already at the paopu palm tree.

He wondered where he left his blanket, but that didn't matter much. He was so exhausted. His body barely answered him. For a second he wondered:

"Am I doing the right thing?" he said in a weak voice. He climbed the tree with the last strength he had and rested his head against the trunk. "I promised I wouldn't get sick… I feel kinda sick thou… kinda tired" His eyes began to close against his will. The sky was still dark, it was just before the dawn. "Riku might want to hit me… Kairi too…" his eyelids felt like they weighted tons. "So tired… so…" and everything simply went black. There was no pain in these memories, no anguish. If anything, there was some comfort, some warm feelings of welcome to the darkness that enveloped the keyblade bearer's mind. Sora was at peace.

* * *

The light faded away, and the orb was gone from the magician's hand. Two friends lay crying on the floor. Both of them so sad, both of them so mad and both of them so relieved. It was obvious that no one had done any wrong to Sora before he fell asleep, and that made them so terrified. They were so scared that their friend actually left them like that. But Sora seemed so unaware, so simply at easy before dying, just as Yen Sid had said, he simply went to sleep, and forgot to wake up.

"Damn… DAMN!" screamed the teen hitting the floor with his fist.

All this while, the king could only observe from a distance, unable to do anything, unable to give comfort of any kind. He felt… useless.

And that would be something he would feel, many times in the near future.

* * *

Well, there it was. I hope you guys liked it. It's been a long while since I've updated, but I just couldn't help it much xD.

Thanks to my friend Sazdx who beta this for me. And see you in the next chapter.


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